The ICC and the security council: An uncomfortable relationship

10.1163/ej.9789004163089.i-1122.127

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Chapter Summary

It was foreseeable that when the Rome Statute of 1998 establishing the International Criminal Court (ICC) was adopted the relationship between the UN Security Council and Court was going to be an uncomfortable one. This chapter shows the relationship between the Court and the Council has come into sharp relief due to the politically driven security function of the Council conflicting with the judicial nature of the Court. The precise conditions under which the Council could use the ICC, or prevent it from acting, were hugely controversial in the negotiations for the Rome Statute. The chapter uses the Council's Resolutions 1422, 1487, 1497, 1502, and 1593 to analyse the relationship between the Council and the ICC. The Council needs to be much more careful and respectful in the future in its dealings with the ICC if it wishes to restore its waning credibility in the field of international criminal justice.